


just when i think you'll zig

by lesbianmxgicians (kaianieves)



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 06:04:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20810297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaianieves/pseuds/lesbianmxgicians
Summary: Everyone else seems to be moving on with chaos away from the apartment, and Margo doesn’t know how to feel about that. Everyone except Penny, it seems.





	just when i think you'll zig

Sunday. It’s raining. Margo wakes up, and already she can tell from the stillness of the apartment that it’s empty. Makes sense- people have jobs now, after all. Alice even moved upstate for medical school almost six months ago now. Eliot went back to Brakebills, surprisingly, to finish his magical education. He visits sometimes- says he wants to teach. All Margo hears when he says that though is, “I can’t be here, I can’t bare it. Not without him.” She can’t imagine a world where Brakebills would be much better for that, but.

She gets out of bed, slipping on the pink bunny slippers that Julia got her for Christmas this year. At first she considered them garish, “basic,” only wearing them around ironically and making unnecessary pointed looks at the people around her when she did. But then, at New Year’s when she watched the multicoloured explosion show from the apartment’s balcony, Margo thought- it was a new year. Without him.

Time was moving on without Q.

Watching people drunkenly celebrate in the streets below is when she decided. She had lost too much,  _ given  _ too much of herself to this goddamned world not to enjoy the stupid things like the lot of them down there. There was no one to impress anymore, because Margo was beyond caring; she was a king, for fuck’s sake. Nothing was special, and life wasn’t sacred. And in a way, that made everything the more precious.

Everyone else seems to be moving on with chaos away from the apartment, and Margo doesn’t know how to feel about that. Everyone except Penny, it seems.

Margo ties her silk robe around herself as she walks down the hallway. The closer she gets to the kitchen, the louder a commotion becomes. Maybe the place wasn’t as void of people as she’d thought.

A cupboard closes as she walks into the open concept room. Reusable bags sit on the island; Margo watches Penny put a fresh carton of milk in the fridge.

“Morning,” she eventually says.

He startles, jerking his head up, which makes contact with the top of the fridge door.

“Shit.” Stepping away from the fridge, Penny grabs the back of his head.

“Sorry,” but it doesn’t sound like Margo really means it. She looks rather amused. But then she seems to think it over for a moment, and crosses the floor to the coffee pot in the corner. “Apology coffee?”

It’s a strange offer, Penny knows that. He takes it anyway.

He finishes putting away the groceries from their bags as Margo leans against the marble counter and watches him, listening as the coffee machine rumbles to life and spews the aroma of ground arabica beans into the room.

It’s interesting, watching Penny’s transformation. At first he was head over heels in it with Julia, but that fizzled and then died when she went off to Uruguay to pursue a higher form of hedge magic. Without that, and his bad boy roots uplifted from his old timeline, he's becoming… domestic. Compared to his old self, Penny is a soccer mom.

Maybe it was his way of coping with all the change. Or maybe it was who he was supposed to become. Margo isn’t too sure, but she assumes it’s a bit of both.

“You’re staring,” he says when they’re sat in the living room. Kady stops by every couple of weeks and gets new clothes. Margo isn’t sure why she hasn’t moved out yet. But she keeps feng shui-ing the apartment’s furniture, so now Margo and Penny are sitting in yellow arm chairs facing across from each other.

The electric fireplace is on, and even if it doesn’t provide warmth, it’s still really pretty to look at.

_ “You  _ should be staring, god,” Margo retorts, and Penny’s quickly resigning himself to her ignoring the question laced under his statement. Then she says, “I don’t know. It feels like I have to or you’ll be gone on another grocery run.” Of course, the nonchalant, bordering on mocking tone is exerted in every syllable.

“If you’re wondering whether I’m going to leave,” Penny starts, because he might as well be open about this, “The answer is no. There’s nowhere for me to go.”

“Isn’t that a little redundant?”

A chuckle shakes his chest. “I guess it is.”

Penny takes another sip of his coffee before he says, “It just feels like… Like I  _ should _ be  _ here.  _ Everyone’s off doing what they’re doing, but they’ll come back. We always do.” The casual assurance in his tone almost scares Margo. He’s quiet another moment, staring off into the fireplace. “I think they’ll have to.”

Margo hums, pulling his attention to her. “What?” he asks.

“Nothing,” she says, taking a sip from her own mug. “Just when I think you’re about to zig, Adiyodi, you zag.”


End file.
